Maserati MC20 review: This elegant supercar is a welcome blast from the past

Yahoo

24-03-2025

You can order your new top-model Maserati in three forms; coupé, convertible and Xtreme for racing circuits only. For the purposes of this review I chose the roadgoing version in preference to the track special, the coupé in fact since the drophead (or Cielo, in Maserati-speak) at the test day had made hard contact with a wall. This was a shame, as the weather was beautiful.
The coupé is listed at £227,930 but this example weighed in at £296,155 including the carbon-fibre pack (is carbon-fibre a premium material?), Giallo Genio paint, blue brake calipers to contrast, a Sonus Faber sound system and the Maserati trident logo stitched into the seats. We can discuss whether Maserati should be charging £550 for heated seats on a car costing almost a third of a million. Likewise £3,250 extra for a nose lift on a car that sits so low that it will beach itself on the average sleeping policeman, or more than £1,000 for a blind-spot alert on a car with parlous over-the-shoulder views.
Once the indignation has faded (it takes a while) there's time to admire the view. This car has been on sale for four years, but head designer Klaus Busse has produced a fantastic piece of industrial design, proper fast-looking, but with a blast from the past. Ferrari F430 perhaps? Maybe even a 1970s Maserati Bora? Either way, it's old-school elegant and curvaceous and you don't need that yellow paint, because from Neptune's Trident on the grille to the aerodynamic Kamm tail lip at the back, the MC20 is a gorgeous interpretation of the mid-engined supercar mien.
While Maserati is busy building battery electric versions of everything else it makes (the Grecale SUV and GranTurismo coupé and cabriolet), the MC20 remains petrol-powered for the moment.
The engine is a twin-turbocharged, dry-sump 90-degree V6 (called Nettuno, or Neptune in Italian) mounted on the bulkhead behind the seats in line with the car. It's a twin-spark unit, with one of the spark plugs firing into a combustion prechamber which helps complete combustion; it's a system used in Formula 1 engines. The fuel-injection system is a hybrid port and direct injection with the piston compressing the air-fuel mixture into the prechamber before firing, which is claimed to reduce emissions and help reduce fuel consumption.
Behind the engine is an eight-speed, twin-clutch gearbox which hangs slightly behind the rear axle line and incorporates an open differential driving the rear wheels, although our test car was fitted with £2,150's worth of electronically-actuated, limited-slip differential. It's difficult to understand why, with 621bhp of power and 538lb ft of torque transmitted to the rear wheels, you'd elect to use a technically inferior open differential.
The carbon-fibre bodyshell is developed by Dallara and loosely based on that of the Alfa Romeo 4C, with all-wishbone suspension which has a single top link.
It's 4,669mm long, 2,178mm wide if you include the door mirrors (1,965mm if you don't), 1,224mm high and has a 2,700mm wheelbase.
Pack light as the luggage space is only 100 litres, with an additional 50 litres under the rear engine cover. It weighs 1,475kg although that's a dry weight; oil, water and a driver will take it comfortably over 1.6 tonnes. Some specialist road tests have placed the MC20 nearer 1.7 tonnes, which is more than some plug-in hybrid (PHEV) rivals with their weighty batteries.
Scissor doors add a sense of occasion and make it easier to climb in than rivals but, having tested Maseratis for more than a quarter of century, the interior feels disappointing. Yes, it's stripped-for-action with motorsport fake suede and bright raised stitching, but there's none of the more traditional gorgeous luxurious leather of old.
The centre digital instrument binnacle is clear, but there's too much information being conveyed. It also contrasts in design and fonts with the central touchscreen, which is tricky to use.
There's plenty of space for the two occupants. The domed roof provides plenty of head room and, being 6ft, I found loads of adjustment to spare, at least until the seat clacked alarmingly as I reduced it to its lowest setting. Someone has lost a pen or it's the structure of the seat; I never found out.
The steering wheel is adjustable and the view out of the front over the low scuttle, between the wheel arches, feels as though you are lining up Arnage corner at Le Mans rather than an exit on the M25.
The sense of control is profound, well apart from the pedal box which defies those with large feet (me) to avoid hitting both pedals at once; dainty left-foot braking starts here…
The huge fixed gearchange paddles feel lovely, but it's a bit of blind man's buff to work out the operation of the indicator and wiper stalks. And is there a radio volume control anywhere? If so, I never found it.
The clickety clack of gravel thrown up into the carbon-fibre wheel arches, combined with the bodyshell stiffness of a kryptonite lintel, makes the MC20 feel race car-like as you manoeuvre around the car park with the nose raised.
The softest GT setting is just about up to the job of coping with the average British pitted and pothole-strewn country lane, but this car needs an A-road to give of its best, if only because of its size.
At low speeds, the engine is buzzy and fizzy, and not particularly memorable. You need to apply some revs to start running with the bulls. Past 4,000rpm and it's making gulping slurping noises behind your head, 6,000rpm and the Minotaur is unleashed, while at 8,000rpm it's bellowing through the carbon-fibre body tub like someone trod on its tail.
With no hybrid system to fill in the gaps in the power delivery, there's a bit of turbo lag, but you get used to driving around it using the gear-change paddles.
Gosh this is a fast car, not just in numbers, but in the margins, too. The twin-clutch gearbox slams in the ratios if you are so moved, but avoid the most extreme Track mode and settle on the milder Sport setting with the suspension on soft, then short-shift upwards and the whiplash torque has you staring out of the windscreen, eyes wide and neck craning for the next corner.
The body's rigidity allows the MC20 to have a soft suspension where it counts, so the impression is far from the occasionally twitchy response of hybrid rivals, but supremely controllable and intuitive. The steering feels beautifully passive and stable, but accurate as well. The result is a sort of hyper-reality, almost like driving a simulator, but old-fashioned and understandable.
On a racing circuit, with a stopwatch, it seems likely that the more powerful hybrid McLaren or Ferrari rivals would lap a little faster, but who would be having the most fun?
The MC20 is old-school in looks, performance and feel, but it's none the worse for that even if it is rather expensive in its class. Its responses are intuitive and (mostly) progressive and the relatively simple drivetrain makes it easy to understand and drive briskly without frightening the driver.
As they say in Italy, il genere drammatico – surely that's what it's all about, isn't it?
On test: Maserati MC20
Body style: two-door two-seat mid-engined coupé
On sale: now
How much? from £227,930, £296,155 as tested
How fast? top speed 202mph, 0-62mph in 2.9sec, 0-124mph in 8.8sec
How economical? 24.6mpg (WLTP Combined), 19mpg on test
Engine and gearbox: 3,000cc 90-degree V6 twin-turbo petrol, eight-speed twin-clutch gearbox, rear-wheel drive
Maximum power/torque: 621bhp @ 7,500rpm/538lb ft @ 3,000-5,500rpm
CO2 emissions: 261g/km
VED: £2,745 first year, £600 next five years, then £190 *
*These rates are set to increase after 1 April 2025, but detailed rates haven't yet been published.
Warranty: three years unlimited mileage with servicing, extendable (at cost) to 10 years
Pretty fabulous hard-top Berlinetta mid-engined plug-in hybrid, mustering 818bhp when the 6kWh lithium ion battery joins the 3.0-litre 120-degree V6 twin-turbocharged engine. Top speed is 205mph, with 0-62mph in 2.9sec.
Very similar specification and performance to the Ferrari, but likeable despite its disastrous launch and slow sales. Under new boss Michael Leiters there have been a host of small changes to sharpen this mid-engined PHEV supercar.
Launched this summer, this V8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) replaces the Huracán although the 789bhp engine is closely related to the unit in the PHEV Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur. A 3.8kWh battery boosts power to 907bhp, with a 0-62mph time of 2.7sec and a 213mph top speed.
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